ITDP’s Mobilidade+ Speaker Series Features Speakers on Youth, Waste, and Favelas

June 15, 2012

The second session of ITDP and Studio-X Rio’s public speaker series at Studio-X Rio’s headquarters continues with part two of a three-part series addressing twelve diverse concepts in relation to mobility, culture, sustainability and waste, and youth. The second session featured Cristina Mendonca, C40-CCI Director for the city of Rio, Pedro Rivera, Director of Studio X, Alberto Foyo, Professor of Architecture, Planning and Preservation at Columbia University, and writer and filmmaker Marcus Vinícius Faustini.

Cristina Mendonça, C40-CCI Director for the City of Rio, demonstrated that mobility and transportation are integral to all elements of the waste cycle – from waste generation through to collection, logistics for disposal, and the options for making each step in the process more sustainable. Her presentation drew two key conclusions: That reducing waste generation has a significant impact on mobility in cities, and that logistical systems for waste removal and disposal can be developed in a sustainable manner.

Pedro Rivera discussed mobility and informality in Rio’s favelas. Following an overview of the development of Rio’s spatial and social segregation, from the origin of the favela typography over 100 years ago, through to the Favela-Bairro project of the 1990’s, which was the first public policy to incorporate favelas, Pedro showed that Rio is now using mobility as a tool to develop favela areas. Pedro highlighted the example of the Morro de Alemão cable car, based on the successful example from Medellin, Colombia, which is currently transporting over 9000 passengers each day.

The Mobilidade+ series is organized by ITDP Brazil and Studio-X (Columbia University) in partnership with UN-Habitat, SLoCat, C40 Rio, and Transport Ativo. The speaker series illustrates how urban mobility permeates diverse aspects of daily life in cities, and affects the lives of citizens beyond considerations of merely getting from one place to another.